After the abrupt end to our initial visit, we headed back to Bletchley Park to complete our weekend of history.

 

Although the site is mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 as part of the Manor of Eaton, there was no house there until 1877, when it became known as Bletchley Park.

However we fast forwarded to 1938, when seeing its potential in the event of war, it was purchased, by Admiral Sir Hugh Sinclair in his own name to avoid any suspicion of what might be about to happen there. With its railway links to the University’s of Oxford and Cambridge and on to all the major UK Cities, it was the perfect location.

I have always been intrigued by the stories of code breakers working at Bletchley during Ww2 and been firmly on my Countdown List. With gift vouchers from the Besties, we were looking forward to learning how they cracked the Enigma Code.

We started our journey, as the new recruits did, at the railway station and sat on the platform to watch vintage footage of the early stages of the war. Exhibits explaining how the site had initially looked, transforming over the years, expanding to accommodate its growing staff.

We could try our hand by using some of the equipment and attempt to understand the workings of the code breaking machines using interactive touch screens.

Our brains already scrambled, we collected our audio guides and headed out into the grounds, passed the lake and into the original mansion. The large ornate rooms preserved, although now devoid of the vast equipment of the time, but sufficient remaining to give us a hint of what it could have been like. Stories of the lives of some of the code breakers, from all over the Country, around the walls. An authentic wireless filling one of the rooms with a broadcast by Sir Winston Churchill.

As we continued our journey from the mansion, through the garages and into the huts we were immersed into a world of secrets and brilliant minds, where the staff in one hut knew nothing about what their colleagues in the next hut did. The offices still set as if we were back then, with sound tracks transporting you into a bygone time.

The huge code breaking machinery, with rotors and wires, has been recreated in one of the huts with video imagery of WRENS working and having conversations amongst themselves.

We came upon the code breakers memorial wall, finding Alan Turing amongst the many names, before being taken back via film, looking through the eyes of the soldiers, to the beaches of Normandy and the D Day landings.

On to discover how messages were transported  around the site, how enemy ships and submarines were tracked and how messages were overheard and translated from German, Italian and Japanese. There was the opportunity to try on various uniforms, but it was probably meant for the children so we refrained. (Well  almost 🤣).

Finally we were taken through a world of enigma machines, cypher machines and the story of Alan Turing. Then with completely frazzled brains we took a seat to watch a video and eureka the segments of code breaking slotted into place and we could make sense of the vast amount of information we’d ingested throughout the day.

…………………………….. Or could we?

I was left completely in awe of these amazing people who intercepted and decoded enemy messages, reducing Ww2 by an estimated 2 to 4 years.

An absolutely amazing, immersive and interactive experience.